CJ Griffin and Iris Bromberg Secure Reversal of Recording Policy and Settlement in Lindenwold Public Meeting Case
CJ Griffin, partner and director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center, and Iris Bromberg, senior public interest counsel, successfully represented a Lindenwold resident in a lawsuit challenging the Borough’s restrictions on recording public meetings. Griffin and Bromberg filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey on behalf of Alfonso Penna after he was ordered to stop recording Borough Council meetings with his cellphone, despite his recording being nondisruptive. During one meeting, Penna was escorted from the room by police. During another meeting, a Borough official halted public business for approximately nine minutes and threatened Penna’s removal unless he stopped recording.
The lawsuit challenged Lindenwold’s policy limiting public meetings to a single camera and imposing additional requirements on residents who wished to record, including advance notice and submission of an unedited copy of the recording. Griffin and Bromberg alleged in the complaint that the policy and its enforcement violated the New Jersey Constitution, the Open Public Meetings Act, and the public’s common-law right to record public meetings.
Following the filing of the lawsuit, Lindenwold rescinded its recording policy and agreed to pay the legal fees for Griffin and Bromberg. Under the settlement, any future policy governing the recording of public meetings must be adopted through an ordinance with an opportunity for public comment, and the Borough must utilize its best efforts to ensure that any future policy concerning the recording of public meetings is within constitutional limitations.
To read the full article about the case in The Jersey Vindicator, click here.
To read more press coverage about the case in State Broadcast News, click here.
